This blog is mirrored in a few places – over to LiveJournal, MySpace, and then fed through to Facebook. Up until now, I’ve been handling this mostly through a cut and paste process that took some time due to logging in, logging out, toggling between pages, blah blah. As a consequence, I’ve often skipped posting because I didn’t have the time to go through the whole process.

I’ve now had Digital Dragon, mage queen of technostuff, outfit this patch of cyberspace with feeds to everywhere. I blog once, and I’m done. So nice. I think this will make it easier to put something up more often because it’s not going to be such a big deal.

The one hiccup is MySpace. It doesn’t accept a full mirror of WordPress right to the blog page, so there is now a widget on the main page with the feed. It’s a nifty, pretty little thing.

My characters tend to show up full-grown. They walk into my head, sit down, and start trying to boss me around. Usually they come with their names, as well as annoying habits, a fashion statement (or lack thereof), and attitude.

Occasionally, though, you get the one-name guy. Historical writers will be familiar with this phenomenon—they’ll be “Buckingham” or “Fitzcarruthers” and evidently popped into the universe with no first name and, if they’re aristocracy, only a title. It takes me months of prodding before they finally confess to being “Steve” or “Bob”. Captain Reynard (you’ll meet him in SCORCHED) didn’t have a first name until I slapped one his forehead and said “live with it.” He’s still pouting even though I’ve explained REPEATEDLY that a hero with his own book has to make SOME sacrifices. Yeesh. I’m still writing book three, so he’d better mind his manners or I’ll have my revenge.

However, it’s not safe to assume a werecougar or a hellhound or even a witch will have the same naming traditions as a human. Witches take their surnames from their mothers, not their fathers. This had me really confused until I figured out that the blood relationships between my various characters would only work if the society was matrilineal. Suddenly a complex family tree problem was solved. Yup, the author is sometimes the last to know.

Hellhounds, as far as I can figure, only have one name. Lore is just Lore, although there’s no “just” about him. What do you say about a guy who risks death daily to save just one more of his people?

Another upcoming character is Errata Jones, an announcer/journalist/werecougar and a good friend of Perry Baker’s (the werewolf professor in RAVENOUS). An errata is a list of corrections, so she’s obviously playing a joke. I wonder about her real name but, y’know, cats have secrets. She hasn’t given me hers yet.

There are a lot of complexities in naming characters, and I’ve always found that it never pays to force it. If I sit down with a book of names and try to choose one, it won’t stick. It kind of makes me wonder about our parents picking baby names before we’re even born. How many of us feel like we truly fit the name we got?

Apparently, in Latvia—the EU nation worst hit by economic crisis—there’s no need to provide more than a first name to get a bank loan. No knuckle-draggers will show up at three a.m. to collect the debt, either. The catch? All you need to do is to put up your soul as collateral.

The article reads: Such a deal is being offered by the Kontora loan company, whose public face is Viktor Mirosiichenko, 34. Clients have to sign a contract, with the words “Agreement” in bold letters at the top. The client agrees to the collateral, “that is, my immortal soul.”

It’s enough to make me eyeball my Visa bill with suspicion. Sure, we’ve become a society that likes to play fast and loose with our credit rating, but what’s with the Brothers Grimm lending terms? Maybe we crave the certainty of a time when our word was our bond and breaking it was unthinkable? Or perhaps we’re blasé enough to scoff at dealing with the devil?

What I do find interesting is the number of people willing to sign on the dotted line. He’s got roughly 200 takers in the last two months.

Just wanted to share this great read by Kim Lenox, one of my fellow Silk and Shadows crew.

I read it and loved it. Lots of atmosphere, great characters, great worldbuilding. Late Victorian England with immortals and seriously nasty supernatural killers. Some fun archeological bits. Here’s the back copy:

Marcus Helios was a member of the Shadow Guard until one reckless act changed it all, bringing him to the edge of madness. His hope for salvation lies in a cryptic message contained within two cryptic scrolls he believes to be in the possession of an enigmatic beauty named Mina. And Mina is not about to hand over the scrolls’ secrets to a total stranger.

But someone else has designs on the mysterious relics, and on Mark: Jack the Ripper’s jilted bride. Her malevolent embrace will trap everyone within reach, and her dark plans will challenge the powers of all she is destined to destroy.

Scientists at the University of Alberta have arrived at the amazing conclusion that the brains of early risers are different than those of night owls. Ya think? I’ve always suspected that early birds are actually a different species. Now we know.

“We found that the brains of morning people are more excitable in the morning and evening people are completely opposite,” neurophysiology researcher David Collins said Tuesday.”

So, the spine and brain of night people are in synch, and the spine and brain of morning people are not. In other words, we of the slow start persuasion are more efficient once we finally get moving. Our body and mind are in harmony.

“Paul McCartney, the former Beatle and vegetarian pop star, asked fans to go meatless on Mondays to help slow global warming by reducing the amount of gaseous emissions from farm animals.”

Yes, according to Paul, belching cows are contributing to the destruction of the environment. Not that I’m against meatless Mondays, since I’m largely vegetarian anyway, but I find it hard to believe that domestic livestock are such a problem. Didn’t North America used to be covered with bison herds? Didn’t they burp? Why are our current herds so much more gassy? Is commercial feed the problem?

Okay, okay, I’m not a scientist and I really don’t know what I’m talking about. I think it’s cool that the feed people are finding a diet that’s more digestible for the cows. If I were a cow, I’d be grateful.

However, the part of me that likes a good conspiracy theory is wondering if this is some media spin sleight-of-hand. I’ve smelled farms and I’ve smelled refineries. If we’re talking global destruction of the environment by pure and simple stinky test, my money is still on big oil, not Bossy the Cow.

Want your calling card to stand out from your competitors’? Today’s bizarre product is business cards made from beef jerky. Check it out at http://www.meatcards.com/

According to their web site:

We start with 100% beef jerky, and SEAR your contact information into it with a 150 WATT CO2 LASER.
Screw die-cutting. Forget about foil, popups, or UV spot lamination. THESE business cards have two ingredients: MEAT AND LASERS.

Okay, but what exactly does this say about your business? You’re beefy? You’re jerky? You’re tough and chewy, but lightly spiced? You’re covered in pocket lint and leave grease stains?

On the other hand, you can brand your business while your stationery is still on the hoof.

Okay, so I’m far from the most up-to-date about what’s upcoming on TV, so this is quite out of date–that is, from last January. However, this tickled my fancy enough that I thought it worth a mention. I came across the mention of a new series being developed on Fox by Michael Dougherty. It sounds like Sex and the City but with werewolves, and it’s called Bitches. Basically, four gals seducing and subsequently munching their way through the NYC dating scene.

I so want to write for this show.

Anyway, according to what I read, this gem is in the hopper for script development. What that means for us viewing audience couch potatoes, I dunno. I think there are about 10,000 opportunities for new shows to die on the vine. Given that the articles I read were already six months old, that might have already happened, but I hope not. This sounds way too funny.

Last week I put my head down and thought–fine, I’ll work non-stop and get through as much icky stuff as I can. No day job, no housekeeping, no errands, just computer time on those due-date have-to items hanging over my head.

The results are in. I accomplished: one set copy edits for SCORCHED, one set teaser pages, one essay for an anthology, and one homework assignment. Bonus amount of homework reading. Deadlines met; obligations fulfilled.

I lived to fight another day. Back to work this morning to shovel paper off my desk.